Hi everyone on TFP!
I am so grateful to all of you who are freely sharing your knowledge. Thank you!
I've never had any pool experience whatsoever before this year. Anyway, we just moved into a new home in July that featured the inground pool described below. The older lady who owned the home did her own pool maintenance, using trichlor tabs, and everything seemed to be running fine. Did some research, found your wonderful forum, and figured I'd check the chemistry. I tried to use her legacy inexpensive test kit and the results were off the scale, so I assumed the results were due to old reagents and didn't sweat it as the pool seemed to be clear and blue, no problems.
Fast forward to two weeks ago. Here in Maryland it's closing time so I figured I'd do what seemed like the hard part first, figuring out how to lower the water level, clear the water out of the system, break down the filter, etc. Only after getting to that point did I realize that what I thought was a pool cover she had left was actually just a thermal cover (blue bubble wrap). So, I figured I'd leave the pool as is for a couple days while I rustled up a pool cover. I also ordered a TF100 test kit.
That was a mistake. Just a few days was all it took for leaves to blow in and stain the bottom of the pool.
Then we had 4 straight days of rain. finally nice weather, got the thermal cover off, set the filter back up, cleaned the leaves out, put some more shock powder in, ran a few basic tests.
Here are the results.
Temp = 54-56 F
Ph = 6.8 (or lower)
FC = .5
CC = 1
Here are my questions:
Do you need the other test results?
We may get a freeze in the next week, maybe not. So, do I need to try to get my pool chemistry right before closing, or can it wait til next year?
Should I worry about the stains left by the leaves? Brushing doesn't budge them. The old trick of placing a trichlor tab directly on the spot for a while seems to.
I'll go ahead and pick up some bleach and baking soda while I'm out today. Any recommendations on quantities?
Thanks in advance!
I am so grateful to all of you who are freely sharing your knowledge. Thank you!
I've never had any pool experience whatsoever before this year. Anyway, we just moved into a new home in July that featured the inground pool described below. The older lady who owned the home did her own pool maintenance, using trichlor tabs, and everything seemed to be running fine. Did some research, found your wonderful forum, and figured I'd check the chemistry. I tried to use her legacy inexpensive test kit and the results were off the scale, so I assumed the results were due to old reagents and didn't sweat it as the pool seemed to be clear and blue, no problems.
Fast forward to two weeks ago. Here in Maryland it's closing time so I figured I'd do what seemed like the hard part first, figuring out how to lower the water level, clear the water out of the system, break down the filter, etc. Only after getting to that point did I realize that what I thought was a pool cover she had left was actually just a thermal cover (blue bubble wrap). So, I figured I'd leave the pool as is for a couple days while I rustled up a pool cover. I also ordered a TF100 test kit.
That was a mistake. Just a few days was all it took for leaves to blow in and stain the bottom of the pool.
Then we had 4 straight days of rain. finally nice weather, got the thermal cover off, set the filter back up, cleaned the leaves out, put some more shock powder in, ran a few basic tests.
Here are the results.
Temp = 54-56 F
Ph = 6.8 (or lower)
FC = .5
CC = 1
Here are my questions:
Do you need the other test results?
We may get a freeze in the next week, maybe not. So, do I need to try to get my pool chemistry right before closing, or can it wait til next year?
Should I worry about the stains left by the leaves? Brushing doesn't budge them. The old trick of placing a trichlor tab directly on the spot for a while seems to.
I'll go ahead and pick up some bleach and baking soda while I'm out today. Any recommendations on quantities?
Thanks in advance!